Information storage devices are used to retrieve and/or store data in computers and other consumer electronics devices. A disk drive is an example of an information storage device that includes one or more heads that can both read and write to a spinning disk media, but other information storage devices also include heads—sometimes including heads that cannot write.
The typical disk drive includes a head disk assembly (HDA) and a printed circuit board (PCB) attached to a disk drive base of the HDA. The HDA includes at least one disk (such as a magnetic disk, magneto-optical disk, or optical disk), a spindle motor for rotating the disk, and a head stack assembly (HSA). The spindle motor typically includes a rotating hub on which disks are mounted and clamped, a magnet attached to the hub, and a stator.
In magnetic recording applications, the disk includes a magnetic coating upon which the head performs read and write operations at a very close physical spacing. In optical and magneto-optical recording applications, the read head may include a mirror and an objective lens for focusing laser light on an adjacent disk surface.
In all of these applications, the flatness and smoothness of the disk is an important consideration. For example, in magnetic recording operations, the head must operate in very close proximity to the disk surface without frequent contact. The media layer of an optical disk may also have continuity and uniformity requirements that affect the specification of acceptable disk flatness and disk smoothness. Such specifications, in turn, can affect the requirements for manufacture of disks for information storage devices.
In certain disk manufacturing processes, a disk buffing apparatus is used to buff the surface of disks under manufacture with an abrasive tape, to thereby desirably affect disk surface characteristics. Conventionally, the disk buffing apparatus loads the abrasive tape on to the surface of the disk under manufacture by pressure applied through a tape loading pad.
However, a detrimental vibration is often observed, in which the tape and tape loading pad can bounce on the surface of the disk (e.g. a stick-slip phenomena) while the disk is spinning during the buffing process. Such vibration can be detrimental because if it is excessive then it can lead to degradation of the tape or disk surface quality and/or ultimately even undesired scratches on the disk surface. Thus, there is a need in the art for a disk buffing apparatus and method that can reduce undesired vibrations.